Sunday Range Day

Went to the range today on a chilly day that began around 25 degrees but the sun was out and it got to 40 ish pretty quickly. I met up with Heath, Spencer and his friend Steve who I met for the first time today.

Steve, as it turns out knows his stuff, and was a firearms instructor in the army among other roles. Nice guy, and a solid and safe shooter. Steve had neat drill that we tried that was quite good.

I shot the IWI Masada with the can on it, the PSA Rock (which needed a red dot sight adjustment and is now nice and zeroed but still the Romeo Zero needs to be replaced by a better red dot), some SIGs, including my P365 from concealment.  Concealment on this day meant an open jacket and the P365 under a sweater, and with thin wool gloves on, so the draw took a bit of work but was quite achievable, and good winter weather practice.

I also brought out the Tavor and my latest SBR.

The ATI Galeo pistol which was on clearance. I've Form 1'd it into a Galil SAR.  I've always wanted a Galil SAR after shooting a real one years ago, and now I've got one.

Happily, it functioned 100% even with IWI magazines.  

One risk with the ATI line of Galil clones is that ATI often have them tuned to function with Tapco polymer Galil magazines, which are now pretty much unobtainium.  But, my IWI magazines fit and fed just fine, which was very happy making.

100% functionality is kind of expected, since the Galil is a later development and refinement of the Finnish Valmet, which is itself a later development and refinement of the AK-47 series of rifles and reliability is the touted hallmark of the system.

Everyone enjoyed shooting it, and it's a nice handy and reliable package of a firearm. Shooting 5.56, the recoil is negligible and it is easy to get rapid aimed shots on target. It can also be easily fired with the stock folded. The rock 'n' lock magazine as seen with the AK series makes magazine changes a little slower than an AR or Tavor, but with the charging handle set upward, the firearm can be charged with either hand, letting you keep your firing hand on the grip.

Due to a neat quirk in Michigan law, while it is federally an SBR, it is still considered a pistol in Michigan, so I could legally carry it concealed if I so chose to do so (talk about effective winter carry), or have it loaded in a vehicle, again, if I so chose to do so. Not saying I will, but it's nice to have legal options.

A great time at the range and everyone had a good time. Range time is always better shared with friends.

Went home and got other stuff done, and now I'm about to make Steak Frites for dinner, because, why not?

Last Range Trip of 2023

After arriving back in town on Friday night, On Saturday morning I got up nice and early and headed to the range to meet up with Tosh, Jason and Spencer.

Weather was cold but not terribly so but compared to where I had been it was kinda cold indeed.  So we got targets setup and commenced shooting.

We started off with handguns and I fired my Black Friday purchase for the first time.

A PSA Rock in 5.7 to compliment my PS90.

I had thrown on a Romeo Zero Pro (will be changing for a better optic shortly) and had it ready to go.

 First impression: Rather impressed. It came with two 23-round magazines, and was optic-ready right out of its very nice carrying case.

The firearm grip is not nearly as bulky as I thought it would be and it fits my hand well. Interestingly, the Romeo Zero Pro as installed was right on and required no adjustment to zero which was nice.

Spencer also had his new to him Smith and Wesson M&P 5.7 along for comparison.  We both found that the M&P 5.7's grip is more rectangular and feels like a 2x4 compared to the Rock's.   The M&P also carries one less round at 22 in the magazine.  The Rock's trigger was also better, and is better than a stock Glock.

Recoil on both was pretty much negligible, and the lack of recoil was made up for with rather loud and enthusiastic muzzle blast from each pistol.  Didn't time it, but Bill Drills were ridiculously fast as the guns simply didn't shift in recoil and stayed right in the A-zone the whole time while firing.

I'd say PSA got the Rock right and its one very attractive package both cost and functionally speaking for people looking to pickup a 5.7 pistol.

Fired 250 rounds through it with zero failures and big smiles from all four of us.

I then pulled out the PS90 and those 50-round mags got fired quickly and accurately by all, again with some big smiles.  Too much fun.

I also shot my IWI Masada, as I hadn't taken it to the range in a while, and it performed perfectly as expected.

We shot quite a few more handguns including Jason's new Beretta 80x and his new Stoeger STR9-F that he got for a steal of a price with its rebate. The Stoeger STR9-F feels kinda like a reshaped Gen 3 Glock, and at the price he got it for, it is one amazing value.   It was a nice shooter and had zero issues.

Since Spencer and Jason were going deer hunting after the range trip, they brought along their 450 Bushmaster rifles for us to try.

Spencer had a Savage in 450 and Jason had a Ruger American Ranch in 450. 

The 450 has lots more recoil than the 5.7, to say the least, but both were perfectly good shooting rifles with very smooth bolt actions.  Lots of fun was had by all hammering steel plates at a distance with them.

I then pulled out the Tavor and Jason and Tosh their AR-15s and we did some magazine changing drills on the clock.  Need more practice with that, but lots of fun.

It was a great way to close out the 2023 Shooting Year.